RANT - Pull Your Friggin Pants Up, You Moron

[trekkor]

I had a young man working for me a while back.

He wanted an XXL company t-shirt to wear and tried to wear his baggy pants on the job.

I gave him a shirt that fit him ( m ) and told him to wear pants or shorts that fit properly and keep his shoes tied to avoid an accident on the job.


KT

[azasadny]

Now that we're arting our pet peeves. One of mine is misspelling... look at the graffiti on this train "The President Wears No Cloths"!!! Think the "artist" meant "clothes"?

[Dan in Pasadena]

Originally posted by Joeaksa
Sorry for the slight hijack but while on the subject of hats... Dan, you and I are about the same age. Would your Father have worn a hat, any hat inside a building, or even thought for a minute that any man of that generation worn a hat during dinner?

The answer is no, and why in the hell is is now ok for these kids (and some are not so young) to put on a ballcap when they wake up (hope they do not sleep in it) and wear it every waking minute of the day, no matter what they are doing?

Sorry but I grew up in an age when a man took his hat off when he went inside a building, and was nice enough to do the same at dinner or when sitting with someone.

Joe, You and I (probably) couldn't be farther apart in our political views but I am side-by-side with you on this one. My Dad was a union brick mason (in the days when things were still built of brick!) and he wore a gray, JC Penneys catalog-issue ballcap every day. He wouldn't have THOUGHT of wearing his cap in the house or to the dinner table.

I go to Dodgers games often and the insulting morons that do not remove their caps during the singing of the National Anthem DESPITE BEING REMINDED BY THE PUBLIC ADDRESS ANNOUNCER!!! seriously peeessss me off. Insulting, unpatriotic and in my opinion, worthy of an usher coming over to as many as they can and personally directing them to remove their caps - which of course would result in a stupid lawsuit.

But hey, apparently taking a friggin shower everyday is out too. The "I-just-got-out-of-bed, don't-own-a-razor-and-my-hands-are-paralyzed-so-I-can't-tuck-in-my-shirt-either" look is all the vogue.

I'm being what I don't like now - *****ing about things not being "like they used to be", things I don't relate to. I admit I don't "get" it, I admit I may be out of step but in these cases, I don't care. The only shirts I wear untucked are Hawaiian shirts and straight cut sports shirts MADE to worn like that. Maybe my Saturday morning mow the lawn or drive the Porsche T shirts too. I shower EVERY day. I shave every day I work. I use deodorant, I brush my teeth and use mouth wash. I taught my kids the same. We are NOT perfect not even close, but I make an effort. That's all I ask of others.

P.S. Don't EVEN get me started on the fatazz women in $1.19 flip flap sandals that NEVER cut their yellow toenails. THAT is screaming for an intervention...with a Dremel tool!

[Dan in Pasadena]

Originally posted by azasadny
Now that we're arting our pet peeves. One of mine is misspelling... look at the graffiti on this train "The President Wears No Cloths"!!! Think the "artist" meant "clothes"?

OH OH! Art, You just hit my hot button. I posted a thread once on Rennlist about spelling and got flamed crispy.

"Breaks" instead of brakes?!! WTF? Adding an "e" to everything.
Using "then" in place of "than" completely interchangeably - they have an ENTIRELY different meaning people! Okay, okay, many people are poor spellers....(I've got a fix for that, READ a ******* book!) but I digress. At least use the spell check function.

[Rick V]

Originally posted by Aerkuld
Joeaksa,
The way I look at it is this - Gentlemen still remove their hats when entering a building. Anyone under the age of five who chooses not to I just look on as ignorant.

X2
And you are suposed to hold the door for someone, and say thank you when someone does it for you.
My wife gets mad at me when I get the door for her, oh well she can just get mad, my mother might be watching me. I don't want to make her mad.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Originally posted by VINMAN
Joe, it boils down to one word: RESPECT.

Something that is seriously lacking these days.

I'm tempted to use the work "kids" but I'd be wrong. A lot of people in general have no idea what the word, "proper" means. They have never been taught, they have never been shown, no role model whatsoever. They (maybe) understand legal and illegal, but proper? Nope. They use foul language in front of women and children, even in completely inappropriate places unlike when you bloody your knuckles under a Porsche They spit, they scratch...anywhere...and any place on their bodies. They talk on their cell phones in the movies, they walk around with a Bluetooth ear piece on their ears (looks like they've been absorbed by "the Borg") and almost shout in answer to conversation you can't hear while standing right next to them. Makes me jump occasionally. Okay, okay, I'll take a pill. I feel my heart pumping in my ears!

[Oh Haha]

I'm soon to be 40 and grew up in the 80's with tight parachute pants and Britsh Flag shirts. (Hey, I was in a rock band. We could get away with that.)

I saw a young man today that had his pants below his buttocks. The only thing I could think of how stupid it looked.

Pet peeve # 3 for me is people that "pose" while driving> I kid you not, I saw a guy the other day that HAD to be sitting in the middle of the car to drive. Oh, he was on his cell too. How in the heck can you see and react while positioned like that? What's funny is these clods have race car stickers and decals on their cars but do race car drivers sit like that? No, straight up and both hands on the wheel Ok, I'm done.

[Tervuren]

I almost never wear a hat, so the rare times I do I won't always take it off based on being indoors. Events that require respect though, I will remember.

Tempted to post a picture I ran across on the hat subject, but I guess not. Its not as much the actually fashion, but the worthlessness and waste of what they are are pursuing after that bothers me.

[Joeaksa]

Originally posted by Dan in Pasadena
I'm tempted to use the work "kids" but I'd be wrong. A lot of people in general have no idea what the word, "proper" means. They have never been taught, they have never been shown, no role model whatsoever. They (maybe) understand legal and illegal, but proper? Nope. They use foul language in front of women and children, even in completely inappropriate places unlike when you bloody your knuckles under a Porsche They spit, they scratch...anywhere...and any place on their bodies. They talk on their cell phones in the movies, they walk around with a Bluetooth ear piece on their ears (looks like they've been absorbed by "the Borg") and almost shout in answer to conversation you can't hear while standing right next to them. Makes me jump occasionally. Okay, okay, I'll take a pill. I feel my heart pumping in my ears!

Would agree with most of the above but see older guys (35+) all the time with the ball cap on EVERYWHERE they go. Eating, in a group, having a date and so on. Just cannot understand it but guess that they are a baaastard child and had no Daddy to tell them the way to act in public.

[Jims5543]

Remember the ]Genteel thread?

Personally I think society in general is decaying. I go to a 5 star restaurant that I have been to on and off for 15 years now and in the last 5 years the dress code has decayed to jeans and t-shirt from suite and tie.

Are we not suprised to see mens boxers and girls g-strings sticking out of their pants? (The latter is difficult to be offended by but when it all boils down it is on the same level)

[trekkor]

"Shorts" that are 3 inches above the ankles make me furious...


KT

[bell]

i think baggy pants should be welcomed to our communities......it makes it easier for cops to catch them when they're trying to run away and have to hold up their pants or trip

[Dan in Pasadena]

Originally posted by bell
i think baggy pants should be welcomed to our communities......it makes it easier for cops to catch them when they're trying to run away and have to hold up their pants or trip

See?!! I KNEW there was a silver lining somewhere Bell, You're an optimist.

Joe, When I was referring to young people I was thinking about the loose pants, scratching, cussing, spitting....not the ballcap but you're right.

Tervuren, I'm not unduly offended by a ballcap indoors in general, but not in church, not during the National Anthem and not at the table. In the old days, it was definitely considered rude and unacceptable but I doubt too many people notice it in a mall, for example.

I guess, here's the bottomline on my feelings about this: I dont "get" a lot of fashion things, but PLEASE look like you STARTED OUT THE DAY, clean, hair combed, smell-free, pants not falling off. When my kids were little and would get messy, I didn't try to make them be little soldiers ready for inspection all day, but I DID insist that they started off the day bathed, with their hair combed, teeth brushed, shoes clean, etc. Sure, they spilled, etc so sometimes things get stained but they LEARN even at a young age that taking pride in your "person" has value when you do this.

[onlycafe]

yo, yo, yo, you can take the douche out of the bag, but you can't take the douchebag out of the current fashion.

[67R69S]

I chased a guy dressed like that once because he stole my kid's bike. I almost gave myself a hernia I was laughing so hard when he ditched the bike and started hoofing it with his pants falling down. He was easy to catch, but it sure was hard to come down on him after almost wetting myself laughing at him.

[FastCarFan]

Check out this article from the Wall Street Journal:

Perpetrator Problem:
It's Hard to Run Away
In Falling Trousers
Cops Say Loose, Baggy Jeans
Trip Up Many a Thief;
'Hey, Dude, Buy a Belt'
By SERENA NG
June 20, 2006

One sunny afternoon in January, Vicki Chandler, a 55-year-old underwriting associate at Cigna HealthCare in Chattanooga, Tenn., was walking to her car when a teenager in loose khaki pants approached her, pointed to her pocketbook and said, "I need that." As she recounts the incident, he snatched the purse and took off.

But then he ran into trouble. As he ran, his loose trousers slipped down below his hips. As he reached down to hold them up, the teen was forced to throw the purse aside.

"That boy, he could run fast but he got caught up by his pants, which were real big and baggy," says Ms. Chandler, whose purse was retrieved by a parking attendant who had heard her cries for help.

It's a problem for perpetrators. Young men and teens wearing low-slung, baggy pants fairly regularly get tripped up in their getaways, a development that has given amused police officers and law-abiding citizens a welcome edge in the fight against crime.

James Green might have made a clean getaway when he stole seven DVDs from a Blockbuster store in Ferndale, Mich., last October. But he, too, was undone by his baggy pants.

Mr. Green, 30, rode away on a bicycle, with copies of "Donnie Brasco," "The Bourne Identity" and "Sin City." When a patrol car knocked over the bike, he fled on foot. As he ran, his trousers slipped down past his hips, and he tripped. He hitched up his pants and ran a few more yards before falling again.

Things got worse and worse for Mr. Green. He finally kicked off his pants and shoes and "ran into the yard of 1720 Beaufield," police officer Kenneth Jaklic said in a report of the incident. "I ran after [Mr. Green], yelling at him to stop." Instead, Mr. Green jumped over a fence behind a garage, and Mr. Jaklic immobilized him with two Taser darts in the back.

Mr. Green pleaded guilty to charges of resisting arrest and retail fraud and spent 30 days in jail. He could not be located for comment.

Denny Fuhrman, a 58-year-old police officer in Lynnwood, Wash., was escorting a handcuffed suspect to his patrol car one afternoon in 2004 when the youngster twisted free and took off running.

As he bolted, the baggy blue jeans he was wearing fell down around his ankles, sending him tumbling onto the pavement of a busy street. "He was rolling around in traffic, looking like a fish out of water," recalls Mr. Fuhrman.

Mr. Fuhrman's suspect wiggled out of his trousers before getting up from the street and running toward a nearby mall, as the police officer radioed a description to his colleagues: "White male, running, no pants, in handcuffs," Mr. Fuhrman recalls saying. The young man was arrested at the entrance of a J.C. Penney store after Janice Lewis, a 61-year-old passerby, grabbed his shirt collar and held on to him until police arrived.

"He was pretty wild," says Ms. Lewis, a grandmother of 10 who broke a knuckle during the scuffle. "I didn't even realize he was in his underwear till the police flipped him over."

Police declined to release the full name of the youth, identified only as Jason in written reports, because he was not convicted of a crime in connection with the incident. He had been arrested after allegedly trying to access a bank account that wasn't his.

Low-hanging baggy pants have been a fashion statement for young men for more than a decade, inspired by the advent of beltless prison jeans, says Andy Gilchrist, a California fashion consultant who has written a book on men's clothes. Over time, the tough-guy image associated with oversized trousers helped make the look standard for hip-hop performers, alternative music bands, skateboarders and snowboarders as it migrated from mostly black city streets to affluent white suburbs.

Just about every other week, Jim Matheny, a 41-year-old police lieutenant in Stamford, Conn., says he gets into foot chases with youths. He says it's getting easier to capture them because they can't run fast or far in those loose jeans.


"When I catch them, I tell them they'd do much better if they had pants that fit," says Lt. Matheny, who says he has had to help hold up the pants of his suspects while patting them down to search for drugs or weapons. "It's like: 'Hey dude, buy a belt and save yourself some trouble.' "

Ill-fitting pants aren't suited for jumping, either, as Noah Donell Brown of Hendersonville, N.C., learned. The 24-year-old tried to leap over the counter of a Subway sandwich shop during a robbery attempt, but he stumbled and came crashing down in front of several startled store employees. Mr. Brown, armed with a gun, got up and fled into a nearby residential neighborhood as the police were notified.

Police didn't have to work hard to arrest him. As Mr. Brown tried to scale a picket fence in someone's backyard, he caught his pants, according to the police department. He was found dangling upside down, his pants at his ankles and tangled in the fence.

"He didn't make a good jump," said Hendersonville Police Chief Donnie Parks, who spotted Mr. Brown on the fence. "The only reason we caught the guy was because his pants fell down," he said, adding: "He was wearing underwear, thank goodness."

Hendersonville police used a knife to cut Mr. Brown free. He is currently serving time in prison after pleading guilty to attempted robbery with a dangerous weapon. His lawyer, Greg Newman, who has since become the mayor of Hendersonville, said he had not spoken to Mr. Brown since 2003. Mr. Brown, serving his sentence at Gaston Correctional Center in Dallas, N.C., could not be contacted for comment.

Dwight Oliver showed up for a court hearing in Seminole County, Fla., wearing loose pants and tennis shoes without laces. While waiting for his case to be called, Mr. Oliver tried to flee. He lost his pants as he ran down the steps of the courthouse.

He was later found in gray boxer shorts in a library three blocks from the courthouse and was arrested after a scuffle with police officers. It turned out the charges he was scheduled to face in court that day were dropped. He was slapped with new charges of resisting arrest and sentenced to two and a half years in jail for the incident. He served 17 months and was released in April.

"Those pants certainly didn't help him escape, and if he had just sat and waited, he would have been fine," said F. Wesley "Buck" Blankner Jr., who was Mr. Oliver's lawyer. Mr. Oliver didn't return calls seeking comment. His mother, Alice Oliver, said: "He wears pants like that, but he usually wears a belt."

Karl Franklin tried to run from police in Tallahassee, Fla., in pants that were on fire. According to a police report, the 30-year-old had stashed a lighted cigarette in his baggy pants and appeared to be preparing to urinate at a traffic intersection.

Seth Stoughton, a police officer at the time, approached Mr. Franklin and noticed the man's pocket was smoldering. Mr. Franklin, who could not be reached, started to run, but his pants dropped and tripped him up.

"I tried to slap the fire out, but he was struggling and kicking me, so I couldn't do much but hold him down," recalls Mr. Stoughton, who now works as a fraud investigator. When other officers arrived, they cut off the burning patch of cloth and arrested Mr. Franklin. He was charged with resisting arrest, but he later pleaded guilty to lesser charges and spent 10 days in jail.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Apparently, fashions change but stupid never goes out of style....there's always someone to pick up where the last stupid one left off!

[Aerkuld]

Originally posted by Dan in Pasadena
I go to Dodgers games often and the insulting morons that do not remove their caps during the singing of the National Anthem DESPITE BEING REMINDED BY THE PUBLIC ADDRESS ANNOUNCER!!! seriously peeessss me off.

Are you serious? Even hockey fans remove their caps during the National Anthem (well down here at least).
I will stand WITHOUT A HAT and I'm a Brit. I don't know if it's good or bad that I'm being more patriotic than some locals.

[Tervuren]

The main reason for the baggy clothing, is to conceal weapons. If you aren't a brutal killer, then its really really dumb to try imitate being "gangsta". You wouldn't believe what some of those oversized styles can hide.

[Dan in Pasadena]

I was there Opening Day, April 9th and this last Friday night too. Many, many guys take off their hats but about 10% do not. Just thoughtless and/or "attitudy" in my opinion. Morons.